Various multi-compartment boxes are known in the art. Conventionally, multi-compartment boxes has been formed from foamed plastic materials, for example polystyrene, as such materials provide good heat insulation. However, multi-compartment polystyrene boxes are disadvantageous in that they cannot be shipped or stored in an unconstructed or unassembled planar form, they cannot be easily preprinted, and they are perceived as environmentally unfriendly owing to recycling difficulties associated with such materials.
Multi-compartment boxes formed from paper, paperboard or other paper-based materials are also known in the art as set forth, for example, in the Meyers U.S. Pat. No. 4,081,125, the Dirico U.S. Pat. No. 4,431,128, the Forbes, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,451 and the Cargile, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,583. Multi-compartment boxes including lid structures and formed from paper, paperboard or the like are further disclosed in the Kuchenbecker U.S. Pat. No. 3,876,132, the Eisman U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,648, the Fultz et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,681 and the Bennett et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,419,486. Generally, the multi-compartment box structures formed from a single blank of material are advantageous in that they may be shipped in the planar blank form in order to conserve space prior to assembly. However, depending on the shape and structure of the blank, the assembled boxes of the prior art provide varying degrees of strength and storage convenience in the assembled state and, depending on the blank material, varying degrees of heat insulation and printability. However, owing to the desirable recyclability of paperboard boxes, there is a continuing need for improved box structures which can be easily assembled from a single blank for various uses.